Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00012965Kom Ombo
About the Artwork
Frith often emulated the drawings of David Roberts in selecting monuments to illustrate and positions from which to shoot. Both artists encountered the temple at Kom Ombo still more than halfway buried in sand. “It reminds you of some grand old giant, buried to the shoulders,” wrote Frith, “not dead yet, but overpowered and imprisoned by some potent spell—majestic in his helplessness.” In his photographs, however, Frith cared less about emotional impact and more about the accuracy of his depictions. “A truthful record is of more value than the most elaborately beautiful picture,” he proclaimed.
Inscriptions
Written in pencil on verso of mount: "42 [circled]"
Provenance
Robert Hershkowitz, Ltd., Sussex, United Kingdom February 2, 1987: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Year in Review for 1986. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 4-March 15, 1987). Pyramids & Sphinxes: Views of Egypt. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 6-May 24, 2016).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Francis Frith (British, 1822–1898)
- Date
- c. 1858
- Medium
- albumen print from wet collodion negative
- Dimensions
- Image: 39.5 x 49 cm (15 9/16 x 19 5/16 in.); Matted: 61 x 76.2 cm (24 x 30 in.)
- Type
- Photograph
- Classification
- Photograph
- Department
- Photography
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Accession no.
- 1986.193
More by Francis Frith in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00012965
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